I really wanted to give this five stars, but just can't. First of all, the parts of the bed are packed very well. They came in a cardboard box that had a 1 corrugated liner around the edges so everything is protected very well. The individual parts are then packaged in plastic covers to protect them, and the hardware is in individual bags and then in a larger bag. All the parts are numbered and labelled, and the hardware bags are labelled as well. I did not find any scratches or chipped paint on anything. The instructions are mostly pictures, but are intuitive so it's not hard to figure out how to put the bed together. You are also provided with two hex wrenches, and you won't need any other tools. It took me between two to three hours to assemble, and as suggested, I loosely assembled the parts until all were together and then tightened everything up. Why four stars? Everything went well until almost the end when I tried to insert parts 8 into the ends of the bed frame. They are simply too long and will not go into place with the plastic caps on the end. I've heard about this problem in other reviews. Fortunately, they screw into place on each end and in the middle, so removing at least one of the plastic caps will allow them to go into place. Other than that, I am very pleased with the bed. It looks nice and is very sturdy and solid.
Lots of parts but not hard to assemble
I really wanted to give this five stars, but just can't. First of all, the parts of the bed are packed very well. They came in a cardboard box that had a 1 corrugated liner around the edges so everything is protected very well. The individual parts are then packaged in plastic covers to protect them, and the hardware is in individual bags and then in a larger bag. All the parts are numbered and labelled, and the hardware bags are labelled as well. I did not find any scratches or chipped paint on anything. The instructions are mostly pictures, but are intuitive so it's not hard to figure out how to put the bed together. You are also provided with two hex wrenches, and you won't need any other tools. It took me between two to three hours to assemble, and as suggested, I loosely assembled the parts until all were together and then tightened everything up. Why four stars? Everything went well until almost the end when I tried to insert parts 8 into the ends of the bed frame. They are simply too long and will not go into place with the plastic caps on the end. I've heard about this problem in other reviews. Fortunately, they screw into place on each end and in the middle, so removing at least one of the plastic caps will allow them to go into place. Other than that, I am very pleased with the bed. It looks nice and is very sturdy and solid.